Danmachi: Unalloyed Blade Works

First Impressions Are Everything

Muramasa stared in wonder as Hestia began to work on updating Bell's status. Like with him, Hestia got on Bell's back and pricked her index finger with a knife. With a single drop of blood, a fancy tattoo showing a hearth burning in an alter appeared out of thin air. The numbers and letters that jumped up moved up and down as Hestia fiddled with them. After a couple of seconds, she pushed all of the numbers down and placed a blank piece of paper over Bell's skin.

"Hm...never saw this kind of magecraft before." Muramasa mused.

"Define 'magic'," Hestia said. "Only us gods and goddesses can do this. Our children go into the dungeon and fight monsters. They in turn gain Excellia which improves your stats."

Hestia drew one more line with the blood on her finger onto the paper, and black text began to write itself on it. Just like with Muramasa's paper, it displayed Bell's attributed. His stats had only increased a bit. Compared to his stats, Bell's were higher.

"His stats are higher than mine." Muramasa noted.

"That's because Bell has been adventuring for longer than you. Everyone starts off at I0 when they first join a Familia and gain a Falna." Hestia explained. "It's just how it works."

"G-goddess?" Bell stammered as he stared at his paper. "A-am I looking at this right?"

"Are you saying that I'm not capable of such a simple thing?" Hestia pouted.

"I-I-I have magic!" Bell cried out in joy.

Magic:

Master Candidate: Ability to form a contract with Heroic Spirits. Constant magic usage required.

Sure enough, the magic column on Bell's sheet showed a magic for him

"Guess that ain't a surprise. Because your my anchor to this world, your magic is what's gonna keep me fueled and stay manifested," Muramasa pointed out. "The more I stay here, the more your magic is gonna improve is my guess."

"Bell, even though you have magic, be careful not to overdo it. I've heard a lot of stories about mind down, and it isn't pleasant." Hestia added. She then turned to Muramasa and pointed a finger at him. "And that goes for you too!"

All Muramasa did was sigh annoyedly and nodded his head.

"I understand," Bell leaned in closer to his stat page and was fixated in the 'skills' part of the paper. "Goddess, it looks like there was something that was erased under the skill section."

"Ah, right. I messed up on that one, so don't even worry about it." Hestia bluntly replied.

The white-haired boy's body deflated with disappointment. "So much for my tiny bit of expectation..."

"Ya just said that you couldn't possibly mess something up, bratty goddess." Muramasa chided.

"Lalalala, I can't hear you~" Hestia sang, plugging her fingers in her ears. "Well, now that I've updated both your statuses, let's go out to town and celebrate our newest member!"

"Yaaaaay!" Bell cheered along with Hestia. The pair jumped up in celebration while Muramasa watched on at the two children before him.

"...Did I really make the right decision, joining these two brats?" the tired swordsmith muttered to himself.

"Ah, but you can't go out looking like that, Muramasa!" Hestia exclaimed.

"Ya got a problem with what I'm wearing?" Muramasa asked.

"Of course! Even if you're in great shape, I can't have you walking around shirtless like that! It'll question my status as a virgin goddess!" Hestia argued. "Shameless!"